Midsummer Garden

June and Midsummer's Day has passed and now we've reached July. I always think that June and July are spectacular months in the garden - a culmination of all that you wait for during those dark months of winter. 

There are so many plants blooming and flowering that it's difficult to be able to give each one the appreciation they deserve, but here are few of my favourities from the garden this June. 

Delphiniums and foxgloves amongst the wallflowers

Pots of wallflowers, cotton lavenders and begonias

Shades of poppies amongst verbena, daisies and irises

Lupin time

Perlargoniums and begonia pots

A summer favourite - sweet peas

Nothing like picking your own raspberries

The sweet smell of a summer honeysuckle

Campions and lavenders

Salvias in different varieties 

Summer isn't complete without the heady scent of roses

Hebe foaming on the rockery

Bees and bright cotton lavenders

April and May In the Garden

Apologies I've been away a little while due to being unwell and April seems to have passed me by and suddenly we are well into May. Here's a little snapshot of what's been happening in the garden while I've been recuperating. When I went in hospital all the daffodils were out and since then the cherry blossom trees and tulips have been and gone and now the garden is full of vibrant colour and plants again. Here are a few photos.

The cherry blossoms 

Magnolia and tulips 

Vivid yellow and pink broom in the front garden with aubretia and yellow alyson in the foreground

Phlox making a purple carpet

One of my May favourites - Aquilega 

A deep red broom currently brightening up a back border

The Californian lilac bushes are in flower

The geums are out and will flower all through summer

Another May favourite - weigelia 

May isn't May without a clematis in full bloom

Borders are brimming with forget-me-nots

The wallflowers have sprung back to into life for the summer

And bluebells - well they sing of May and signal the summer isn't too far away now

A peony unfurling in the early morning sunshine

It's all come to life so quickly and as we approach mid May, the cold snaps and frosts are leaving us. It's already time to redo the summer baskets and pots...

September in the Garden

It's been a beautiful September so far and the sun has kept on shining. The garden is still full of colour. I've been especially enjoying watching our new front garden bloom and bloom. We had a large tree taken down earlier in the year and this created lots of space for new plants and also turned a dark dull space into a bright and sunny one. We chose a mix of varied lavenders, anemones, purple wallflowers, catmint and a whole mix of purple and pink hydrangeas to create a beautiful jumble of frothy colour. One of the best things about it is how it has just grown and grown and now there is little room for weeds, so it's been relatively easy to manage. It's also been a real haven for butterflies and bees and that has been a really lovely surprise to see just how many have been visiting. I sometimes walk past to my car and a whole flurry of butterflies will rise up and flutter above the plants. 

I'm now thinking about planting some spring bulbs in readiness to give some colour in spring and perhaps a few autumn sedums to just add a bit more late colour as the summer flowers die back. 

Beautiful anenomes

Mop cap hydrangea

Lace cap hydrangea

Late flowers on the Daphne

Catmint behind the bird bath

The butterflies love the purple wallflowers

Blues, pinks and purples

Catmint

A patio peach tree in a terracotta pot amongst the jumble

One of my firm favourites lavender